“Girardi has a second, more significant problem on his hands that speaks to the lineup’s most obvious flaw — Alex Rodriguez, who slogged through another hitless night, dropping his average to .262.

The more damning number is A-Rod’s .436 slugging percentage, a career worst since he became an everyday player in 1996. Those metrics are a cry for help, except that Girardi is powerless to do anything for — or to — his troubled slugger.

Obviously, Rodriguez is in rapid decline. To a man, members of the front office concede the 10-year, $320 million deal A-Rod signed in 2007 has become the most costly mistake in the franchise’s history. It’s not that Rodriguez has stopped hitting home runs; he doesn’t even hit the ball into the gaps anymore.

In fact, the third baseman all but fell off a cliff after Memorial Day, as his line-drive percentage dropped from 26 percent in May to 17 percent in June. OPS-plus of 112, Rodriguez has become Nick Swisher’s clone (113), prompting hitting instructor Kevin Long to recently tell the New York Post the dropoff is “alarming.”…

…but remember one thing about Girardi: He doesn’t have the political capital to initiate a coup on his own. Dropping A-Rod to the No. 6 spot, where he realistically belongs, would require a summit of Yankee officials beginning at GM Brian Cashman’s pay grade. And then higher.”